House of War

The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power

By: James Carroll

Narrated by: Robertson Dean

In House of War, the bestselling author James Carroll has created a history of the Pentagon that is both epic and personal. Through Carroll we see how the Pentagon, since its founding, has operated beyond the control of any force in government or society, undermining the very national security it is sworn to protect.From its "birth" on September 11, 1941, through the nuclear buildup of the Cold War and the eventual "shock and awe" of Iraq, Carroll recounts how "the Building" and its officials have achieved what President Eisenhower called "a disastrous rise of misplaced power."

This is not faded history. House of War offers a compelling account of the virtues and follies that led America to permanently, and tragically, define itself around war. Carroll shows how the consequences of the American response to September 11, 2001 -– including two wars and an ignited Middle East -– form one end of an arc that stretches from Donald Rumsfeld back to James Forrestal, the first man to occupy the office of secretary of defense in the Pentagon. House of War confronts this dark past so we may understand the current war and forestall the next.©2006 James Carroll; (P)2006 Books on Tape

fascinating journey

Carroll's House of War is part personal memoir, part institutional history. It succeeds beautifully on both levels. It is never angry or indignant, but nevertheless leaves you with a disturbing sense in the pit of your stomach that an out-of-control Pentagon is undermining our country's democratic institutions and values. Carroll's writing is first-rate.

Powerful and Fascinating

James Carroll will make a lot of people uncomfortable with this book. His portrait of the Pentagon is not flattering. However, the scope of the story is wide, thorough and told from a unique perspective; that of a boy growing up in a military family that was intimately connected to America's military establishment. Carroll's portrait of Curtis Lemay is revealing and surprisingly sympathetic. To me, this is one of the strengths of the book; the Pentagon is shown as a collection of people, torn by myriad forces and loyalties. As a Canadian, I've always been curious about the enormous impact that mandatory military service has had on many generations of Americans. Despite my liberal leanings and a mistrust of things military, I've always been impressed by the fierce loyalty that our American friends display towards their troops. This book beautifully describes the military culture, warts and all. You could build an American history course around this book.

Enthralling History

This book is history as lived in and lived through, told by the son of longest tenured director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. There is human drama, tragedy and paradox on every page. There are startling revelations of the falsity of fearmongering claims and there even more startling relevance to the fearmongering of today. And there are the levers of power, the industrial war machine. You might say, Carroll reveals "strange shapes of the primal world", as Melville might have said.

Well Written from the Heart

This is one of the best history/memoir books written in the last decade. An intimate knowledge of this book and its implications and insights should be required of all our so-called representatives in Congress, now and in the future.

Brilliant, if Biased

This was a wonderfully written book. Carroll's meshing of the big story and his own personal story was fantastic. There are no boring or slow parts of this book. Robertson Dean is the absolute perfect choice of narrator for this one. The reason I give the book 4 instead of 5 stars is that Carroll is almost laughably one-sided in his take on the Pentagon and American foreign policy. He makes a number of great arguments that really are damning against the US and the war machine. But he makes an equal number of arguments that are just really difficult to buy. For starters, the idea that Japan had virtually surrendered when the bomb was dropped is ludicrous. But there are many other examples. So that's what kept me from going 5-star.